Planning your event stand? First, ask yourself these key questions…

Often, many businesses exhibiting at an event don’t put enough work into the planning process leading up to the event. Here are 6 questions you should ask yourself before you commit to exhibiting or before you begin planning your event stand.

Why am I going?

Set your event objective. Why are you attending the event and what do you want to get out of it? Once you’ve established this decide how you will measure your success, you may base this on the number of leads generated or the number of product enquiries received.

Who am I exhibiting to?

Then establish who will be attending the event, is it an audience you’re familiar with or an audience you’re testing, how do you plan on engaging with them? It’s also a good idea to check out your competition, which other companies are exhibiting at the event? Explore what you have in common with these other companies and how you differ from them.

What is my budget?

It’s important to showcase your products in a professional manner within your allocated budget. You need to consider how you will decorate your event stand and what display items you’ll use. If you’re handing out freebies try storing them in a branded Dump Bin or if they’re free standing try stacking them on an FSDU. This will allow you to manage your quantities easily and professionally whilst taking up a very small footprint. If you’re promoting an exclusive offer at the event, make sure you have some literature to communicate this to the passing trade. Try popping a Tent Card on top of your counter-top or table space, this will hopefully drive footfall towards your stand.

Who will attend?

It’s best not to have too many people manning your event stand; this can be intimidating to potential visitors. That being said, you don’t want to be thin on the ground so think carefully about how many people you’ll need, look into the expected visitor numbers and the size of your stand. Think about the most relevant people in the business, we would recommend someone from sales or marketing as well as someone more technical. For example, if you’re a food brand your marketing expert is likely to know the brand USPs, best-sellers, pricing and overall service model but your nutritionist or NPD technologist is likely to know more about the specific nutritional and dietary information.

Who knows I’m attending?

Make sure you’re using social media and your own website to publicise the fact that you’re attending the event. This can help you network with not only potentially visitors but other exhibitors too. Post photos during the run-up to the event to create a buzz; these could be anything from the setting up of your event stand to new products you’ll be showcasing. Let your customers know the number of your event stand so they know where to find you!

There’s usually the opportunity to be part of the e-newsletter leading up to the event as well as being part of the event magazine or any literature/goodie bags that are being handed out. Make sure you speak to the event organisers regarding this.

Have I followed up and evaluated?

After being out the office for a day or two it’s easy to launch yourself straight into your email inbox, catching up on the things you’ve missed. However, make sure you make time to follow-up with those you met at the event, there’s no time like the present whilst you’re still fresh in your potential customers mind. Then review the initial objective, did you get what you wanted from the event? Is there anything you would do better or differently next time? Was there any surprises? Would you attend again? What’s been the response from the follow-up? These are all questions that will contribute to your decisions about attending events and creating memorable exhibitions going forward.